LA Leaders Urge Boycott|of Trump Businesses

LOS ANGELES (CN) – Whatever the result of this year’s general election, Los Angeles city leaders on Wednesday sent a clear message to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump by calling for a city boycott of the real estate mogul’s businesses. The Los Angeles City Council voted 12-0 to back a measure proposed by California Senate Democrats in July 2015. State Sen. Isadore Hall III, D-Compton, introduced the resolution asking individuals and private businesses to boycott The Trump Organization and its affiliates. First District Councilman Gil Cedillo and 11th District Councilman Mike Bonin, both Democrats, put forward a City Council resolution to support the measure in March. The city will now formalize its support for the measure in the city’s 2015-2016 State Legislative Program. Speaking at a morning meeting, Cedillo urged the council to follow the state Senate by divesting itself from Trump. He said he was “repulsed” by the candidate’s attacks on immigrants, the disabled and women. “He has admitted to groping and assaulting and attacking women. He is a scourge of American politics and will go down as that, and we should be equally repulsed by his conduct,” Cedillo said. Adopted last year, the Senate resolution cited comments Trump made during the Republican primary season, which saw Trump ultimately beat a packed field of 16 other candidates including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz of Florida and Texas, respectively. “Presidential candidates including Donald Trump have unfairly demonized and falsely blamed undocumented immigrant families for a range of problems and challenges facing the United States,” the resolution states. It also cites comments the reality show host made when he announced he was running for president on June 16, 2015. “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists,” Trump said. The resolution passed in the state Senate on Sept. 11, 2015, but is not enforceable by law. It highlights the positive contributions of immigrants to the health of the economy and cultural diversity and called for an “end to hate speech and racist rhetoric.” The “Senate condemns in the strongest terms possible the racist rhetoric against immigrant families made by presidential candidate Donald Trump,” the resolution states. ESPN, Macy’s, NBCUniversal and Univision have cut ties with Trump because of comments he has made in one of the most divisive and bitterly fought campaigns in the history of U.S. presidential politics. Trump has made several inflammatory remarks about immigrants. In addition to calling for Mexico to pay for a wall on the U.S. border, Trump also suggested that a federal judge presiding over a lawsuit against Trump University is biased because of his Mexican heritage. The judge in question, U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel, was born in Indiana. Progressive California group Courage Campaign announced on Monday that 60,000 people had signed a petition calling for Nike to end its ties with Trump and move its flagship store out of Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan. Gucci and Starbucks have faced growing pressure to vacate Trump Tower after a 2005 video emerged earlier this month in which Trump can be heard bragging to a giggling “Access Hollywood” host about being able to grope women because of his celebrity. The City Council’s action arrived amid reports that someone had vandalized Trump’s Hollywood Star with a sledgehammer and pickaxe, obliterating his name. In July, the British-born artist Plastic Jesus built a miniature border wall around the star adorned with barbed wire and “keep out” signs. Cedillo said after the vote that anti-immigrant rhetoric has led to a spike in hate crimes against Latinos in LA County. “It is important that the city of Los Angeles take a stand against anyone who incites hate, discrimination, and intolerance. It is our responsibility to take a stand and make a statement. We want to be on the right side of history. We are a city that is inclusive, tolerant and welcoming of all races, religions, and talent,” Cedillo said in a prepared statement. The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.